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BY DONNIE COLLINS (STAFF WRITER)
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Published: February 26, 2013

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Shortly after it arrived at the team's headquarters on Montage Mountain, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders' newest mascot outfit went from brand-spanking new to slightly used in about the amount of time it took to get it out of the box.

Excuse Rob Crain for not being able to wait for opening night to show it off - at least to a few colleagues.

"I have to admit, I had to be the first person to wear it," Mr. Crain, the team's president and general manager, said. "I've already run around the office wearing a porcupine outfit. Had to do it."

On Monday morning, Mr. Crain and the RailRiders announced the addition of two new mascots who will help entertain fans at PNC Field for the 2013 season and beyond, tripling the number of costumed creatures that will be roaming the concourse.

One is a more traditional mascot, a furry porcupine wearing a RailRiders jersey. The other is a 9-foot-tall inflatable superhero, also adorned in RailRiders gear, that will be mobile and able to greet fans.

Champ, the longtime mascot of the former Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, also will return, Mr. Crain said.

Neither of the new mascots has been named yet. The team will leave that up to local youth.

A "Name the Mascots" contest will run until March 15. Students from area elementary schools will get to see and meet the mascots during in-school assemblies. Afterward, they will get the opportunity to answer three questions: What is the mascot's name? Where is he from? Who are his friends? From those answers, the team will choose not just names for the porcupine and superhero, but backstories as well. Kids who choose the winning name and backstories will earn a prize pack that includes access to PNC Field's Fun Zone, game tickets and merchandise.

Winners will be announced on Opening Day, April 4, against the Pawtucket Red Sox, and Mr. Crain is hoping that since children "have no filters," their responses will provide the creativity and whimsical nature the team wants to portray with its mascots.

"Not only do we want to get the adults involved, we want the whole community involved," Mr. Crain said. "The kids aspect is a big part of our philosophy on what we're going to do."

While having more than one mascot is rare in minor league circles, it isn't unheard of, either.

For example, the Omaha Storm Chasers - the organization from which the RailRiders hired Mr. Crain - had three mascots. One was the longtime mascot fans were used to before a similar rebranding. Another was a furry mascot. The third, an inflatable tornado named Vortex, became the most popular of the Storm Chasers' mascots.

From the beginning, Mr. Crain said he wanted to add a mascot to join Champ, and once the team name was announced in November, a porcupine had to be used.

But the popularity of Vortex convinced him that fans here - especially the younger ones - would enjoy the addition of the inflatable mascot.

Fans familiar with the popular Zooperstars act, which had a yearly appearance at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees games, have seen similar inflatable mascots before. In fact, the same company that makes the Zooperstars mascots made the superhero mascot the RailRiders purchased, Mr. Crain said.

"The more, the merrier," Mr. Crain said of the additions. "There's more fun. There's more excitement. There's more visual stimulation. Mascots are fun and funny, and the more you have, the better it is."

Contact the writer: dcollins@timesshamrock.com DONNIE COLLINS covers the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders for The Times-Tribune. Contact him at dcollins@timesshamrock.com, read his blog at http://blogs.thetimes-tribune.com/RailRiders/, or follow him on Twitter @RailRidersTT

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